This is a short presentation giving an overview of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), meant to be an introduction for those who are unfamiliar with the technique.
This in-class activity traces the many contributions leading to the correct assignment for the solid-state structure of triiron dodecacarbonyl, [Fe3(CO)12], with the aim of reinforcing ideas about IR spectroscopy and group theory. I give this activity to my advanced inorganic chemistry class (graduate students and senior undergrads). The activity is loosely based on the paper: Desiderato, R., Jr.; Dobson, G. R. J. Chem. Educ. 1982, 59, 752-756 and incorporates questions about symmetry and group theory for metal carbonyls.
This lab experiment is designed to introduce the electromagnetic spectrum to non-science majors in a food chemistry course by using everyday food (i.e. Kool-Aid packets). Students will use a spectrophotometer to correlate wavelength to color, as well as determine the mass percent of certain colored dyes in a Kool-Aid sample. Paper chromatography is also introduced to determine the number of dyes in a Kool-Aid sample. This lab is adapted from Sigmann, S; Wheeler, D. J. Chem. Ed., 2004, 81, p. 1475.
I recently came across some web resources for teaching kinetics. They are searchable compilations of kinetics data, principally gas-phase. Two of the sites include "recommended" data for use in simulations.
I describe the four sites here and the URLs are here and below.
http://jpldataeval.jpl.nasa.gov/
This is a critical tabulation of the latest kinetic and photochemical data for use by modelers in computer simulations of atmospheric chemistry
This paper is from a Science article from Alan Goldman’s group at Rutgers University. It was one of the literature articles that was assigned during the IONiC VIPEr Workshop in July 2012. In conjunction with reading the article, workshop participants attended a seminar presented by Alan Goldman on this work.
A very simple lab synthesis that allows the student to carry out a coordination reaction and then look at the NMR and IR spectra. I use this as a first lab to introduce them to using the NMR and IR. If students work through the spectroscopy tutorial they should be able to explain the IR and NMR spectra.
A simple coin-flipping game to help students understand the origin of spin/spin splitting in 1H NMR.
This screencast is a brief introduction to some of the features of VIPEr.
These slides present a walkthough of performing a Percent Buried Volume (%Vbur) calculation. The %Vbur is a measurement of the bulk of a ligand coordinated to a transiton metal. The calculation uses the crystal structure of a compound to determine how much space a ligand occupies. It does this by placing the metal at the center of a sphere and then calculates the volume of that sphere occupied by the ligand. Originally developed for N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands, it has also been applied to mono- and bidentate phosphines.
For years, I spent 2-3 days a semester working through Tanabe-Sugano diagrams, their development from terms, their evolution from Orgel diagrams, their analysis to give transition energies (the old ruler- trial and error analysis) and nephalauxetic parameters. Recently, colleagues in VIPEr convinced me that my time in class could be better spent, but I am not willing to completely give up on Tanabe-Sugano.